Wide-Angle Multisensor Data Collection System

Wide-angle multisensor fusion concepts hold the promise to transform the way we exploit data for automatic target recognition applications. Realizing this potential requires a new generation of target and clutter models that capture and accurately represent wide-angle multisensor phenomenologies. The rapid construction and validation of these models in turn requires a new data collection system that simultaneously captures and accurately registers multisensor data in multiple dimensions. The proposed effort will design a low-cost, wide-angle multisensor signature collection system for use in the construction and validation of multi-phenomenology target and clutter signature models. The system will consist of a reconfigurable array of multi-static radar receivers and a wide-angle transmitter mounted on a portable tower. It will include an array of video cameras aligned and bore-sighted with the radar array in a manner that enables the construction of a 3D model of the target surface geometry from the radar look direction. The co-design and integration of a multi-channel radar and video array will provide the signature modeler with target geometries and scattered radar responses aligned in a common coordinate system. The proposed system will also make it possible to inexpensively investigate the performance of a variety of wide-angle, multi-channel radar configurations.